Moments in life
by eriphi
Summary: There are a lot of adventures hidden between the episodes that we see.  Not all of them big or grand.  Various short writings about life in the TARDIS.
1. In the Dark

Author's rambling note - These are short, drabbly, little stories that I've decided ought to have a home of their own here. I will add to it; one chapter a 'short-fic' to keep things neat and tidy.

Sometimes they are for challenges, sometimes just for the pure hell of it, sometimes because I managed to massage a half-baked idea into a few paragraphs that make sense. I would like to pretend that they are writing exercises, or trials in telling a BIG story in just a few words. But mostly they are just my way of getting the ideas out of my head so that I can go to sleep at night.

In a way, they remind me of Quavers (or whatever melt-in-the-mouth-corn-snack equivalent is most common in your area) - nice to eat, don't last very long and are not all that satisfying. If you want grand, meaty adventures I'm afraid they aren't going to be here. Sorry. But I hope you'll enjoy anyway. And, like always, if you want to tell me what you think, I'd love your feedback. Good or bad, short or long, grammatically perfect of misspelled text-speak. It's all brilliant. Thanks for reading.

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><p><em>In the Dark<em>

_Characters - 11th Doctor, Amy, Rory._

_Summary - The TARDIS without lights._

_Rating - K+ (although T if you can see through Amy's suggestions at the end!)_

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><p>"Get the door open!"<p>

"I'm trying. Hold on, the key is fiddly and... There. Got it."

The Doctor flung the door open and Amy and Rory piled in too. He slammed it behind them to keep out the Swamp-Monster of the Khalli Desert (long story, swamp-monster, desert etc. Amy did not understand any of it).

The Doctor yelled, "Don't close the door," a second too late.

There are different kinds of darkness. There is the half-light kind that exists in movies and the gloaming of midnight sun in Inverness. In the middle of winter it is a deeper darkness, but still possible to see shapes in the shadows and know that if you wait a moment your eyes will adjust.

Then there is real darkness. Not just the absence of light, but the kind that seems to fill the air. Even sounds are different. Imagine a cave in a storm, or the depths of the ocean.

Or this. The TARDIS without lights.

Amy swallowed her first instinct for panic by grabbing whatever was underneath her. It turned out to be Rory's face.

"Oh, not good. So, very, very not good," the Doctor said.

"Did you forget to pay the electric?" Rory mumbled under Amy's hand, in a weak attempt at humour.

"The TARDIS doesn't have electric. She runs on the power of the time vortex, which is complicated, and not billed. It is impossible not to pay the electric and even if it was, and I hadn't, it wouldn't... You were joking weren't you."

"Yeah. Sort of. Sorry."

There was the sound of the sonic screwdriver.

"Umm, Doctor. Shouldn't it light up?"

"Yes, Rory. Good observation. Of course it should light up. Which means this is not just a power cut, but another, altogether odder reason..."

He paused.

"And by odder, of course I mean, dangerous."

Amy could feel Rory's sigh.

It was surprisingly difficult to get from the tangle of bodies to the central console. Someone stepped on Amy; she suspected the Doctor, but he would not admit it. Then she stubbed her foot on the stair and Rory knocked something over that the Doctor said was very important, but was probably the hat stand. All the time she prepared herself for something to brush against her, or, in true horror movie style, begin breathing down her neck.

"Okay, now let's find out what's going on." The Doctor pushed buttons and turned dials that filled the air with familiar TARDIS noise. He even cranked the handle that played the tinny rendition of "Claire de Lune". Nothing changed. Amy clutched the console and gripped Rory's hand as the Doctor worked.

"Nothing different with the subharmonics, and the time splicer is intact. The differential is at the correct mass and vortex is, well, vortexing..."

"Bottom line?" Amy prompted.

"Something is absorbing the light. All the light. Like a sponge."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It isn't. It's bad. Very bad. And the only things I know that can do that are Dark Matter droplets."

"What are they?"

"Well, for a start, nothing to do with Dark Matter, and not much like droplets either, except in size and consistency. Semi-sentient..."

The floor lurched out from underneath them. Amy slammed into Rory, who landed on the ground. There was no time to catch their breath before it happened again.

"Hold on. The TARDIS is trying to shake them off..."

Amy hung on to Rory, and hoped he was hanging onto some sturdy piece of furniture as they were thrown left and right. It felt like she was on the back of a dog as it shook water off its fur.

The TARDIS calmed eventually and they lay in the darkness concentrating on breathing. And when the Doctor turned on the screwdriver this time, Amy could see a glow around his face. "Good," he said. "A good shake was all it needed."

"Great. And the bruises helped too," Rory muttered from underneath Amy.

"Well then folks, that's that dealt with. Just take a few hours to build up the photonic levels and we'll be good. So, what do you want to do?"

"In the dark?"

"There's loads of things you can do in the dark."

Amy squeezed Rory's leg suggestively. There were some ideas that came to mind, even if finding the ladder to the bunkbed might be tricky.

"Look, shadow puppets! And ghost stories. And hot chocolate, and blind man's bluff and..."

"Yeah," Rory huffed. "Great."

But they had fun, despite themselves. And they kept the bunkbeds for later.

_End_


	2. Trust

_Trust_

_Characters - 11th Doctor, Rory._

_Summary - the Doctor is surprised at how quickly and thoroughly Rory trusts him (written for a prompt which was exactly that. I couldn't summarise it better)._

_Rating - K_

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><p>"Rory. What are you doing?"<p>

He blinked. His vision was blurred, but he thought that might be a face hovering above him.

He blinked again, and his vision cleared a little. It was definitely a face. The Doctor's face.

Another blink. This time he could see that the Doctor looked worried. Interesting...

"Ummm. Not sure actually what I'm doing." He levered himself up slowly. All his bones ached, and there was a sharp pain at the back of his head. He felt a bit sick. Probably a concussion.

"I mean, in the spectrum of stupidity, that takes the biscuit. An important biscuit. The jammy dodger of stupid things, not just a custard cream, or a bourbon, but the king of all biscuits. The premier biscuit of stupid things and..."

Maybe it was the head injury making him bold, but Rory interupted, "Not following Doctor. Sorry."

The Doctor threw up his hands in exasperation, then flopped down to sit. His voice had become serious, "Rory. Why did you do that?"

"You said the gap needed to be plugged. I just... sort of..."

"It was exploding. What made you think that putting your hand in it would be a good idea?"

"I'm sorry. It was just, well, I couldn't see anything else and you sort of shouted and made it sound important..."

"Oh, it was important. Probably saved our lives. All our lives. Everyone's lives. Only, it was a bit of a shock."

"I'm still not following."

"Look, Rory, I don't mean to be rude, but you've only known me for a few days. I know that in those days we've met Vampire Fish, and there was the nearly dying and the earthquakes and stuff, but if a stranger says 'we need something to plug that gap,' not many people would stick their fist in the exploding machine. I'm a bit flattered, but, well, why?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, please."

"It's complicated. Or, maybe not so complicated, but, well..." He took a deep breath, then started again. "When me and Amy were little we used to play pretend games. I followed her around like a lost puppy for months, so she used to get me to wear your clothes to make myself useful. When she got bored of that I got to play along and we... imagined that you were there. You would tell us how to play or save the day, or get us in more trouble. I broke my arm because of you when I was nine, and I got grounded for a week when you told me to rescue the aliens from the back of our sofa with a fork. I started to forget that you were just a voice that only Amy could hear. You got to be real, even to me. This sounds daft, but you might have only known me for a few days, but I've known you forever."

Then he blushed, "And I've probably got a concussion, so you could just ignore all that. Are we going to rescue Amy now?"

The Doctor patted Rory on the shoulder, then helped him up to stand. "So, you had to get dressed up as me? Bowtie?"

"Didn't do the bowtie. It was just a tie. Sort of swirly stripes."

"Hmm. Maybe you could try the bowtie later. Cool, you know."

"Maybe not, Doctor."

"Yeah. Never mind. Maybe another time."

And they went to rescue Amy.


	3. Supernova

_Supernova_

_Characters - 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory._

_Summary - The universe is a beautiful, destructive thing. And just because you can't save it all doesn't mean that it's not right to try. Written for the prompt "Burn" at who_contest on livejournal. (A/N - I'm sure the Lorex deserve a bigger story of their own. If anyone would like to give one a home, please feel free...) _

_Rating - K_

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><p>"What's that?" Rory asked.<p>

"It used to be a Supergiant star. Now it's the biggest supernova in a hundred thousand years."

"And why are we here?"

"Them." The Doctor waggled a lever and the display zoomed into the edge of the explosion. As his eyes adjusted, Rory could see dozens of lumpy 'things' floating in space. They seemed familiar. They looked like...

"Space manatees!" Amy said triumphantly.

"These are the Lorex, creatures that feed on exploding stars."

"How can they feed on that?" Rory asked.

"Do you have rechargeable batteries at home?"

"Yes."

"Well, nothing like that. You should watch and stop asking questions."

So they watched. The Lorex floated around the pillars of gas and fire. More arrived, until they were nudging against each other. Like dancers, they turned towards the centre of the supernova. They began to change. Lights flickered on their surface and the lumpy clumsiness began to shift into smooth shimmering shapes. They grew longer and thinner, until they were quite beautiful.

Quietly, the Doctor said, "The energy burns them as they swallow it. A trillion Lorex will come here to feed, and they will absorb enough energy from the supernova to save the stars and planets nearby." He pointed at the screen, "There are five billion human colonists here, another two million here and another million souls here and here. They will be saved because the Lorex absorb the energy of the explosion."

"But it changes them. They become... something else, and it kills them. The energy burns them from the inside. They save so many, but they die."

"That's horrible," Amy said.

"Yes. Horrible. And that's why we're here. Once, I took the energy from a friend to save her. To stop her burning after she saved everything. And it changed me."

He cranked a few levers.

"But not so changed that I don't think she would appreciate this."

They flew the TARDIS close to the Lorex. The TARDIS took their energy into the Time Vortex at her heart.

And some were saved.

The rest burned so bright that Amy cried.


	4. Musical Synaesthesia

_Musical Synaesthesia_

_Characters - 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory._

_Summary - The Doctor saves the day. Again. This time he lets Amy and Rory do the talking._

_Author's note - This was written (and won!) the music drabble challenge at who_contest on livejournal_

_Rating - K_

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><p>"Talk," the Virgotn Judge says. "You have one chance to save them. Make your words count, Time Lord."<p>

They can see Amy and Rory waiting for the sentence. The couple have no idea they are being watched by the aliens condemning them to death. Amy rubs Rory's bruised wrist absently.

The Doctor has a plan. Sort of. The Virgotn language is based on the tonal qualities of sound and that means music is important to their culture. They are also highly telepathic or they would not be in this situation in the first place. He just needs a bit of luck too. He says, "No. I'm not talking. You need to listen to them."

The Judge looks bewildered - a three eyed, round mouthed face is made for that expression. "You do not understand. You are their representative. You must explain why we should spare them."

"I know what you said. I know that they can explain best."

A little luck, he thinks. He tunes out the courtroom noise and focuses on Amy and Rory.

There is a human medical condition called synaesthesia. The brain mixes its sensory pathways so people hear sounds when they look at colours, or experience a taste when they think of a number. Time Lords don't have such a condition, but their brains are probably wired the same way.

The Doctor hears the music of humanity. Their character and their spirit makes the world sing.

("Nothing like your very own theme tune, Rory," he had explained once. "Much more complicated.")

He hears Amy and Rory's music and broadcasts it to the Virgotn.

It is a sorrowful melody just now; they are frightened and hurt. But Amy's sparkle is still there against Rory's sensible counterpoint (that sometimes dissolves into power chords and snare drums just like a theme tune). It is beautiful. He can hear his own notes in there too. Typical. They're about to be executed and they're worrying about him.

The Virgotn face can do compassion too. They listen to the music of Amy and Rory - a duet that never, ever sounded right as a solo. Sad, joyful and full of faith and love.

"I understand," the Judge says eventually. "They will be spared."

"I knew you'd get it," the Doctor says. "But you should hear a whole planet of them. Best thing in the universe."


End file.
